Jaded
by PhoenixDfire
Summary: Five years after the creation of the Empire, A Jedi Exile begins a journey of discovery about himself and his connection to events 4000 years ago.
1. Chapter 1

"Sir, we've lost squad two."

The Captain could tell the trooper was in a bad state, just from his voice over the comlink.

"The target is confirmed as using a light sabre but it's not usual." The troopers voice was ragged, "It's got a blade at each end."

The Captain looked down at his control console within his command vehicle. The trooper's locator was at the far side of the warehouse. The trooper was the last in his second squad. All he had left to the perimeter guard. There were no reinforcements available.

"Sir, He's coming."

There was the sound of a blaster.

"The blades are yellow …"

A light sabre strike and then a scream. The Captain grimaced as the comlink went dead.

It was a tactical standoff. Any unit he sent into the warehouse was liquidated, but his quarry wouldn't break cover. The Captain reasoned his target probably wouldn't want to face a whole squad at once. This left only one option but he wanted to double check his orders to make sure he had the option available to him.

_You are ordered to the Morris Sector to find and eliminate a code 10549 reported in the sector. This threat has to be removed at any cost and you are authorised to requisite any assets available._

"Burn the warehouse." He ordered.

* * *

"Bloody Hell Alison, I'm cold."

The man was crouched behind one of the many stacks of cargo crates. He was making a valiant effort not to shiver but he hadn't slept, eaten or drank in the last 48 hrs. It was beginning to take its toll.

His clothes were in tatters. There were a couple of minor blaster burns where shots had gotten past his defences. His only possession was his sabre staff, which was deactivated and held close to his side.

"Is this where it ends, love?" He muttered under his breath.

He reached out using the force but it was silent. There was no hint of guidance. He gripped the sabre tighter. There was always an extra option but deep down he knew not to use it.

"If this is it, then I'm not scared. I'll be with you soon."

He left that thought, giving him a little pleasure, and focused back to the present. He could sense new activity outside. He moved from stack to stack and jumped up to one of the many first floor windows along the side of the building. He glanced out. There were some of the troopers modifying some of they're weapons.

_Another Assault_? The man wondered, ducking down out of sight.

One of the troopers raised his weapon and fired. Not at him but through a window further down the building. It was some kind of projectile. It smashed through and landed near the stack he'd been resting by.

He didn't hear the explosion.

It was the stench that woke him. It took him a little while to realise it was coming from him. Slowly, he opened his eyes. He couldn't see but he could feel. He was lying, face down, in rubbish. He turned over. There was no light or sound apart from his breathing. How long had he been out? Had those troopers buried him alive?

He could feel the panic begin to well up inside. Willing himself to be calm, he reached out with his hands and found a barrier just above him. He gave a gentle push, it moved. It was a lid. The panic subsided. He was in some kind of garbage dumpster.

He allowed himself a smile at the irony of his situation.

He raised himself up and, while raising the lid slightly, peeked out. It was still evening, the troopers were milling about. The dumpster was underneath the window he'd been looking out from. The warehouse itself was in flames. He realised the only reason that this dumpster hadn't caught fire was because of the wet sodden rubbish he was lying on top of.

He knew the troopers would search the area after things had cooled down but that was hours away. If he could time it right, he would be able to slip away under cover of darkness. He lied down on top of the rubbish to ponder his next move. His clothes were now little more than rags, half of them blown off in the explosion. A quick search in the muck and he located his sabre staff.

He lied in the dark and planned.

* * *

The Captain monitored the fire. He was sure that no living being could have survived but he believed in being thorough. He'd order his troops to wait until the fire was out and then he'd order a full search. There was nothing to do but wait until then. He lazily looked over his squad's layout. He suddenly started up in alarm.

"Trooper 3-82" he called into his comlink. "Why aren't you at your post?"

There was no reply. He keyed in the spy cameras. He could see both Trooper 3-82 and his companion 3-83 milling around near the far side of the warehouse.

"Trooper 3-82, Report."

There was no reaction.

"Trooper 3-83, Report."

There was a reaction from the second trooper. He suddenly looked about and then clutched the side of his helmet. The other trooper who appeared to looking the other way didn't notice. The Captain turned to his aide.

"Take 3-100 and 101 and go relieve those troopers. Escort them back here." He ordered.

The aide acknowledged and left. The Captain monitored his progress. The two troopers seem to indicate that there was a problem with the comlink. The two new troopers started their patrol and the aide brought the others into the command vehicle.

"Have you troopers got bad comlinks?" The Captain asked.

"No." Said one trooper and raised his hand.

Both the Captain and his aide went for their weapons but it was too late. They both froze. The Captain found he could breathe and move his eyes but that was about it.

Neither of them could move as the other trooper collapsed on the floor. The remaining trooper took his helmet off. He wasn't a clone.

The man looked between late thirties and early forties. He had a short crew haircut, brown eyes and weathered features. He flashed the Captain a grin.

"Oh you won't remember any of this. As far as you're concerned, the Jedi died in the warehouse."

_Oh really,_ thought the Captain, _we'll see about that._

"He managed to get these two troopers before the fire took him." The man said while still smiling.

The Captain thought that the man was mad. He wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug smile of his face. His adversary rifled through the command centre, found some spare cash and a tech uniform. The Captain began to frantically look around for other options. The Jedi then bent over the computer console and made some modifications to the console.

"Oh, I'm so kind to you." The Jedi smiled that infuriating smile again, "I've updated all your admin work. You planned a tactically superb operation with a successful conclusion. Your superiors will be very impressed."

"You won't get away with this Jedi." The Captain managed though clenched teeth.

"Jedi?"

The other man's smile changed. It made him look slightly unhinged.

"I'm no Jedi!"

The man suddenly darted forward. He slapped his open hand against the Captain's forehead, forcing him against the back wall of the command vehicle. The Captain could hear the other man, but he wasn't talking.

"You will remember only what I tell you."

It was beginning to hurt when everything went black.

* * *

"Sir?"

The Captain stirred and then suddenly woke. He'd been asleep on duty?

"The fire is out sir. It took a lot longer than expected."

The Captain looked up at the Tech who was leaning over him.

"How long have I been out?"

The tech looked up at the clock and the command screen.

"A couple of hours, sir. You were practically dead on your feet." The tech looked a bit nervous, "I took the liberty of erm… maintaining your posture in the records."

"That's illegal Tech!" The Captain stared at him and then smiled, "but in this case I'll overlook it."

The tech breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Sir!"

The tech saluted, picked up his small backpack and left the command vehicle. There was something about him that the Captain couldn't put his finger on but he let it go. It had been a long but productive night. It would come to him eventually.

The man in the tech uniform left the command vehicle. As he mused at his close escape, he passed through the security cordon without a problem. The Imperials would pack up and leave soon, believing they'd eliminated another Jedi threat. He wondered if anybody else would come up with the bad transmitter trick.

He, on the other hand, had a new disguise, enough credits for a change of clothes and a ticket off this planet. However most important of all, he still had his sabre staff. He knew it was a very old weapon. How it still managed to work was a mystery to him. In the two years since the creation of the Empire, it had never let him down.

It didn't take him long to reach a main transport route. The force must have been with him as he flagged down a taxi. On the way into the city, he pulled the light staff out of the holdall. He rolled it over and over in his hands and looked again at the name carved into the side of it. Who was this Bastila Shan?


	2. Chapter 2

Stepping out of the clothes store, the man joined the throng of shoppers on this busy market day. He was dressed in the present fashionable combination of beige tunic with black trousers and blended in to the crowd without a problem. This was exactly how he wanted it. The last thing on his mind was standing out.

As if to emphasize the point, an Imperial patrol pushed its way through the crowd. People were bullied out of the way as it progressed towards one of the stores further up the street. There was a blaster whine and the man saw a body fall to floor.

_Probably looked at them funny. _He thought.

Not taking any chances, he changed direction towards a side street off the main plaza and tried to work out, in his head, a route to the spaceport. It was a pity he had to leave this planet, he quite liked the routine that he'd gotten into and the place itself was quite beautiful. However, that was the trap, he'd gotten too settled and it was only a matter of time before suspicion was raised.

He pushed the regret to the back of his mind as he followed his own directions, kicking the rubbish out of his way as he walked. He recognised the call of the Force. It was a complete coincidence; he kept on telling himself, that his route to the spaceport and the subtle feeling of suggestion were converging further up ahead. He suppressed his irritation at the sometime manipulative nature of this power he was connected to and carried on. It was then that he heard the high-pitched scream.

_Can't I just for once, get from A to B without something happening? _He complained to himself.

Breaking into a run, he followed the impulses until his view was blocked by several large beings.

"See there's no-one here." A condescending voice, full of satisfaction, came from ahead of the large beings.

"Forget it. You had your money." came another voice, young and female with a slight waver of fear.

"You forgot some of the interest." The first voice again, "Too many people owe me now and I need to make an example."

"I've paid you back eight times over." cried the second voice, really scared now, "I've got enough for my ticket and you say I owe more?"

"It's a changing environment and you have to be flexible to meet those changes." The first voice was clearly enjoying the fact he could intimidate the second, "However, you could tell us the id you're account and we'll call it quits."

"You said that after the last job I did for you." The second voice was close to tears, "I'll never get out."

"Well, these gentlemen will have to indulge their darker natures I'm afraid. Nara here is very good with knives."

The man had heard enough, suppressing the rage within him and channelling the Force through his legs; he jumped over the blockage of bodies and landed in front of a very scared looking young girl. She looked about ten or eleven, dressed in clothes, which had seen better days and with a mop of short black hair on top. If he hadn't heard her voice, he would have mistaken her for a boy.

She was facing four humans of varying dress from the dead end of these side streets. She literally had her back against the wall. All of her tormentors had the desperate look of people who had lived on the street too long. They were all tall but gangly, obviously not eating too well. Three of them stood behind their leader, who had all the features of a standard thug.

"Who the stang are you?" he yelled,his voice being the threatening voice from before.

"Like you said." The man replied. "The business environment can change at a moment's notice; the real question is how you react? Will you make an offensive takeover bid, or retreat to consider you're options?"

This seemed to confuse the leader; he wasn't used to people using the same kind of language that he used to intimidate people thrown back at him. The three behind him looked warily at each other and then looked back at their new arrival. One of them grinned.

_So you want to fight, come on then_! He realised it was the wrong thing to think and he had to suppress the satisfaction that these bullies had picked up on wrong one this time.

They didn't even give an order, they just charged. The leader swung a heavy punch, but all he hit was air, as the man moved gracefully to the side. The leader's arm was grabbed and he was swung round into one of his men. The fact that the leader fell onto his man's drawn vibro-knife was just unfortunate. The couple of men fell to the floor, one pinned down by the weight of the other.

The other two didn't even notice, both had also drawn knives and slashed towards their opponent. The man realised that he had no choice and drew his sabre-staff, lighting it at one end. The fact a light sabre had been drawn didn't even register with the two men. Two cuts and there were four thumps, as recently deceased body parts landed on the ground.

The last man threw his leader off him and, taking the Jedi by surprise, body slamming him into the wall beside the girl. She was crouching in terror, trying to shield herself. The light sabre was dropped and switched itself off as it clattered onto the floor. The Jedi concentrated and the Force threw his opponent away from him and into a wall with a sickening crunching of bone.

He knew they were all dead as soon as the remaining body crumpled down to the floor. It had all happened in less than five seconds. He turned to pick up the sabre when he noticed that a small part had fallen off. He examined the part. He always thought it was some kind of decoration that the owner, a Jedi from long ago called Bastilla Shan, had added. However, looking at this small part, it was obviously some kind of data crystal. He picked it all up and turned to look at the girl.

She was still shaking partly in fear, partly at the violence that had occurred in front of her. She turned to look up at him with wide brown eyes.

"You OK?" he asked.

She nodded.

"You can go, they can't hurt you."

"You killed Nico…" she stammered. "The others will come after me."

"I'm sorry, but you've at least got a chance to run." He replied.

"I can't, I need my stash first." She sounded almost frantic.

"That your ticket money?"

She nodded hesitantly.

"Off world?"

"Yes, why?"

"You got the documents for that?"

"Documents?"

"You fly interplanetary or interstellar, you need documents and forms so they let you fly."

The girl seemed to be recovering well from her shock.

"Who do I talk to get them, Mr Jedi?"

"Jedi?" the man smiled without humour, "I'm no Jedi."

"How did you do that then?" The girl pointing to the crumpled corpses surrounding them.

"Luck."

"There's no such thing." The girl seemed to getting angry.

"So what will you do?" asked the man, "Run to the Imperial storm troopers, hoping that it will get you the documents you need?"

The girl seemed to consider this.

"No."

The man's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I owe you," she admitted. "I wouldn't do that."

The man looked at her and considered his options. The girl needed to get off planet and only needed the documentation to do it. If the authorities were looking for him after the warehouse, then they would be looking for a single passenger. No one would expect a "Guardian" and his charge to be troublemakers.

_You're using her as a shield. _He told himself._ You scumbag._

He reasoned that if the heat did get too bad, then he'd drop her somewhere safe and draw them away. Anyway, there was something vague and forgotten about being protective about a child. Alison popped into his head and he pushed those dangerous thoughts away.

"What if I said that I need your help to get off planet?" he asked the girl, "Would that level the scales?"

"Could you get me those documents?"

"Yes," he replied. "However, you'll have to travel with me. I need someone to pretend to be a charge."

"Charge? "

"Someone to escort," He explained. "The documents would explain that I would be your guardian."

"Deal." The girl smiled, "I get a lot of problems with people wanting to take me places, but I don't get the same feeling about you. What's your name?"

The man frowned; he couldn't recall the last time anyone had asked him for his name. But then his life had been turned upside down in the last couple of years.

"Jade." He replied.

"Mooka." Said the girl, offering him her hand.

He shook it.

* * *

Mooka had never been to a Spaceport before. She'd seen and heard the ships takeoff and land and once even ventured close to the terminal's doors, but she'd never had the courage to walk in. This time, there was no such fear. She had Jade with her. He turned round and stared at the departure screen.

They'd been shopping and bought Mooka new clothes. She was so tempted to go for the real flashy stuff but she realised that Jade needed the anonymity. She now stood by him, wearing some non-descript jacket, shirt and trousers and holding a small backpack containing all she had left in the world. A photo of her mother, a couple of hundred credits, a few changes of clothes and one small beaten up stuffed toy.

"Galaxy Tours!" muttered Jade.

"What?"

"It's the only scheduled flight that leaves today." He explained to her, "Well at least we'll be comfortable."

"What's Galaxy Tours?" she asked

"It's third one down on the departure board?" he asked.

"I can read, y'know." She replied testily.

"OK, let's see if we can get an upgrade." There was a slight grin on Jade's face as he said it.

They went to the check-in desk and Jade signalled for her to stay behind the line. She'd seen some con artists in her time but Jade was something else. He went through the procedures and very calmly pointed at her. She tried her best to smile and look natural. He turned back to the assistant and seemed to subtly wave his hand at them. There didn't seem to be a problem and he returned a couple of minutes later.

"There we go! Two executive passes for a round cluster trip." He announced.

"What does that mean?"

"It means we travel in style."

"I thought you wanted to travel quiet?"

"That's the thing about first class? They automatically assume you have class and are therefore no trouble."

It was then trouble loomed. It came in the form of an Imperial Officer escorted by two troopers. Jade put his hand around Mooka and moved her out of their path. They walked up to the desk they'd just been at and talked to the person sat there. Jade ignored them and continued to examine the departure board. Mooka, however, couldn't take her eyes off them. She started to shake a little, scared by the two tall faceless men in white armour.

The officer turned round and walked straight up to them. Mooka tried to stop shaking but couldn't.

"Excuse me," The officer asked politely.

Jade turned to look at the Officer and smiled calmly. Mooka could tell that something was wrong. For a second Jade looked concerned, as if he recognised the man and then the look passed as if it had never been there.

"Do I know you?" asked the Officer.

"I'm afraid not," Jade replied coolly. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I was wondering if you'd seen this person." The Officer passed Jade a small flimsy.

Jade looked at it with interest for a second and slowly shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, Officer."

"I see." replied the man in uniform. "Can I ask you to keep your eyes open for him. He might be on your transport."

"Certainly."

"If you see him, call this number." He handed Jade another flimsy. "Don't approach him yourself."

The Officer looked down at Mooka.

"Is your daughter alright? She's looking worried."

"She's not my mine; I'm escorting my Employer's little girl."

"Oh my apologies."

"She's had quite a sheltered upbringing and this is really the first time she's seen your troopers up close."

"Oh." The Officer looked back at his own escort. "I suppose they do have that kind of effect. Again, my apologies to have troubled you."

With that, they marched off to talked to another couple approaching the Executive Queue.

"Mooka?"

"Yes?"

"We walk away slowly, OK?"

"Yes Jade."

She only felt she could breath properly again once the boarded the shuttle up to the liner.


	3. Chapter 3

_Now this is the life,_ Mooka thought to herself as she looked around the pool deck, sipping a fruit juice cocktail.

She relaxed on the sun lounger under the artificial sunlight. The pool deck was enclosed to look like an exclusive seaside resort. There was a hologram surrounding the pool giving the impression of a beach and sea stretching off into the horizon. There were very rich and very fat beings milling around the pool, quietly chatting and laughing with each other. A couple of people had talked to her but, as Jade had advised; she maintained a healthy distance from everyone.

Both she and Jade had been on the Galaxy Star for almost two weeks. During that time, it hadn't taken her long to acclimatise to the luxury of her surroundings. It was as if fate was apologising to her for putting her on the streets in the first place. All she had to do was ask for things and she got them, new clothes, any drink or food she wanted.

The best thing was that she could look like a girl. One of the female crewmembers had shown her a lot of pretty dresses when she'd asked about new clothes. She'd even been allowed to try a couple on. She could almost hear her mother telling her she looked like her little princess. She'd handed the dresses back while holding back the tears. On the streets, she'd tried her best to look like a boy because bad things happened to girls.

She'd even been allowed, with Jade, to meet the Captain on the bridge. He'd been an old, stocky man in a crisp uniform of blue jacket and white trousers. He'd explained to her, in very simple terms, how they made a jump in hyperspace. Then the ship jumped. She saw the swirling blue tunnel of hyperspace and had to fight the feeling of fear that they were falling into a swirling whirlpool of light. Jade gently laid his hand on her shoulder to steady her as the ship continued on.

_It was funny,_ she thought to herself, _whenever I've got scared or confused he's always been there to explain things or take the heat out of a situation. I have no idea who he is. I've even got no idea where he is at the moment._

She put her drink down, wrapped herself in a towel and set off to their stateroom.

Jade was sat in the ship's library when she found him. He was sat at a data terminal, scanning through data entries as fast he could. He had short spiky blond hair was receding from the front. He looked better; the dark circles round his blue eyes had gone. The worry lines, she had noticed in the first few days, had begun to go. The stubble had gone. He'd picked up a long beige overcoat from the ship's store and had begun to look respectable.

"I wondered where you got to," she said. "There are plenty of ways to have fun on this ship and you're studying?"

He carried on looking at the data terminal for a few minutes before turning to his smaller companion.

"Research," he explained.

"How long are we going to be on this ship?"

"Getting bored?"

"If this is boredom then I'll be happy to be this bored for the rest of my life."

"We'll get off at Dantooine," he said. "There I'll find you somewhere to stay, hopefully a school and then you'll be able to take it from there."

"I'll be able to take it from there?" she was a little stunned. "Is that it? We split up?"

"Yes," he confirmed. He looked around checking to see if anybody was there.

"But I don't want to go to school," She cried. "Have I done anything wrong?"

"No."

They never got to finish the argument. The floor shifted, throwing both Jade and Mooka to the floor. Suddenly, lights went dark. One of the other people in the library screamed as the floor shifted again..

Emergency lights came on, bathing the room in a dim red.

"This is the Captain. Will all passengers report to their Cabins! This is not a drill."

Mooka looked at Jade. He had that far away look on his face as if his mind was somewhere else.

"Are we going back to the cabin?" she asked.

There was a slight smile on his face.

"No chance." he smiled. He got up to leave but Mooka stayed on the floor.

She stood up. She couldn't work Jade out. One minute he was all doom and gloom, the next he was manically happy. Frantically, she ran after him. She found him at one of the data terminals round the corner. He had some kind of pocket computer linked into it.

"Oh, this is not good." he said as Mooka caught up.

"What?"

"It's a Hostage situation."

"Eh?"

"There's about ten of them, armed and making a run for the bridge."

"What do they want?"

"No Clue."

"We demand the immediate resignation of the Emperor and the restoration of the Republic." blared out of the speaker.

"There's your clue," said Mooka wryly.

"Talk about aiming high," observed Jade. "But all that will do is make this ship a big target and we don't want to be on a target that big."

He disconnected the computer and started to walk off leaving Mooka standing there looking perplexed.

"So what's the plan?" she asked running up behind him. "You going to go in there sabre slashing?"

"No."

"We're going to negotiate?"

"No!" Jade was beginning to sound exasperated.

"Then what?"

They turned another corner and arrived at the escape pods.

"No!" breathed Mooka, "You wouldn't!"

"Why not?"

"I thought you saved people."

"Not anymore."

"But you're a Jedi."

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

Mooka grimaced and fixed him with a hard stare.

"It's no use looking at me like that we're going."

Mooka sat down on the floor.

"I'm not."

"We don't have time for this."

"I'll get into the escape pod once everyone's safe."

"It will attract attention you don't want Mooka. Trust me on that."

Mooka just continued to stare at him. There was a hesitation, a moment where she thought that Jade would get in the escape pod and run, but all he did was sigh and pull out his sabre.

"OK, I'll resolve this," he said "But as soon as it's sorted, we have to take our chances in an escape pod. We can't be found."

"Why?"

"Well, they'd probably just shoot you and I'd get carted off as a prize somewhere."

"Who'd do that?"

"The Imperials."

"Seriously?"

The look on Jade's face was enough for Mooka to realise that he was serious. The cold grip of fear grabbed her as she realised what traveling with Jade could cost her, but the after a moment of thought that she'd been more scared on the streets back home. She could handle this.

"It can't be any worse than what's back home." She said half shrugging.

Jade just looked at her, quizzically and then nodded.

"Here, catch." He threw her a data crystal, "try and find out how to read that."

"Once I'm done here, we're gone." and with that he walked passed her and out of sight.

* * *

"Great, Emotional blackmail from two sources." He thought to himself.

He'd felt the subtle suggestion of the force urging him to do something about the hostages, he could have ignored it if it wasn't for Mooka. The problem was how to resolve this crisis without drawing attention to him. Especially when he agreed with the hostage takers demands.

"Hard Decisions taken they must," he recalled Yoda saying, "Sometimes a wrong decision is better than no decision."

He grimaced, repressing any memory of one of his old teachers. He tried to remember how his other masters would have resolved the situation. Mace would have gone in hard and fast. Yoda would have found a weak link in the attacker's demands and argue them to death. Obiwan? He paused for a moment. What would have happened to Obiwan in the last two years? They'd both been apprentices together, getting each other into trouble with their masters. They'd even stayed in touch while they were Padawans. Until Jade left, he'd wanted to talk to him before he did, but Quigon Jin had just died and Jade had enough trouble without getting Obiwan involved.

He'd heard rumours that Obiwan was alive and in hiding, or he was dead in some remote world somewhere. There were still some powerful Masters out there but doing their best to remain hidden. He knew Yoda had tried to stop the Emperor and failed, so what chance would anybody else have. And what of Obiwan's old apprentice, where was he? Wasn't he supposed to be the Chosen One who was supposed to stop all this from happening?

There had been so many Jedi deaths since then that he couldn't know what happened but he'd felt every one of them. It made him feel breathless with terror every time it happened. Then it occurred to him, breathless. He allowed a cunning smile to slowly form on his face. He made some quick calculations in his head and then ran off towards the bridge.

He felt the presence of the two guards before he saw them; they were round the corner probably outside the entrance to the bridge. They were nervous, excited but more importantly very alert. The 'old mind trick' wouldn't work here. He'd have to do this the old fashioned way. Using the force to enhance his speed, he speed round the corner and barrelled into him. Two quick force enhanced punches to the neck of each and the two young men collapsed unconscious.

He picked up the bodies and dragged them out of sight and quickly locked the door from the outside ceiling all eight terrorists, or freedom fighters, in the bridge with the crew. He smiled and started to search for the maintenance hatches. He was thankful for his training. First rule in a new environment, find out as much as you can as quickly as you can. The first thing he looked up on this ship was its layout and blueprints and according to his research, the environmental controls for the bridge would be about here.

With grim satisfaction, he pulled the hatch open and looked at the controls. The idea here was to be subtle. He altered the Oxygen / Carbon Dioxide mix and allowed a small amount of carbon monoxide into the mix. Thankfully, these intruders were all human, so it wouldn't take too long but he had to time it right.

With the gas being completely undetectable without some kind of monitor, he let his awareness stretch into the next room. He could feel everyone on the bridge getting groggy, the real trick was to time it right that everybody lost consciousness but the gas didn't do any damage. He dulled their senses a little just to help things along. There were a couple of tense moments but he felt them go quickly one after another.

He quickly reset the atmospherics, unlocked the main door and ran it. He quickly saw that the hostage takers were armed with out of date basters and very shoddy armour, if there was any armour at all. He brought the Captain round and bound their assailants with cuffs from the security locker. It was then the captain noticed the ship had an incoming call.

"This is the Galaxy Star, Captain Brooks Commanding." He answered

"This is Captain Elis of the Star Destroyer Daring. We've had reports that you've had an incident and we're moving to intercept."

"Yes, we had an attempt to seize control, but it's been contained." The captain replied. "We can take it from here."

"Unfortunately, standing policy is that we have to investigate. We'll be alongside in half an hour and we'll take these terrorists off your hands."

The signal terminated.

The captain looked at Jade with resignation and then sighed.

"I bet they're goanna try for a shakedown." He said, "Ever since the war ended, I swear I can't tell the difference between the navy and pirates."

The options were already running though Jade's head. Not many of them good. The older captain looked at him sympathetically.

"It's been a while since I've seen one of you." He said.

"I dunno what you mean." Jade tried but he knew that the older man could not be fooled.

"Yeah, I'm sure you don't." Brook replied, "And I'm quite sure that you don't want the white helmets here. Take the captain's yacht, and these idiots." He said pointing to the gang of hostage takers. "I'll make sure the Navy think they got away, in escape pods."

"Captain…" Jade started.

"How many time the Jedi saved my ship I can't count." Brook explained, "Now Go!"

With that, Jade ran back to the library and picked up Mooka. She knew by the look on his face that the holiday was over. She quickly gathered her belongings and followed Jade to the small spacecraft at the back of the ship. There they found the hostage takers, bound and gagged in the back. Ignoring them, he quickly powered the ship and they flew away, just as the Star Destroyer came alongside.

Mooka looked over at Jade with fear as she saw the massive warship. Jade just looked at her, smiled and then as usual all the doubt disappeared. The ship shuddered as its tiny hyperspace engine kicked in, throwing it towards Dantooine.


	4. Chapter 4

Mooka couldn't believe what she saw when the yacht landed on Dantooine. She was used to the choking yellow atmosphere of her heavily Industrialised world. This blue sky was a complete shock, as was the fresh air. The green plains and yellow crop fields seems to stretch forever in every direction away from where the ship had landed.

Jade had put the ship down in the middle of nowhere; the nearest farm was a long walk away. However, Mooka noticed that Jade had that far off look on his face a lot at the moment, as he prepared the speeder bike that they'd found in the back of the ship. The prisoners were still locked in a room at the back but apart from Jade throwing them some K rations every day, they hadn't had a peep out of them.

She walked back to the yacht's cargo hold to find him. He'd just finished packing the speeder bike and Mooka realised, with a little relief, that there was enough room on the bike for two.

"So, where do we go next?" She asked.

"No idea." replied Jade.

"You got a clue where we are?"

"Nope."

"Any idea what we're going to do?"

"Oh?" Jade seemed distracted, "I sure something will turn up."

"Are you leaving me behind?" Mooka asked.

Jade turned round to stare at her.

"What? And leave you with that lot?" he replied indicating at the locked door, "Fat chance."

He seemed to pause for a second and then regarded her more thoughtfully.

"Unless, you want to stay behind?"

"No." Mooka almost shouted.

With that, Jade walked over to the door to the room where the hijackers were held. He knocked quietly on the door.

"Anyone Awake?" he called.

"Sod off Imperial Scum." shouted a voice, "You'll never get anything from us."

"Oh! Right." Jade looked back at Mooka and winked, "I take it that you don't want to be released then?"

"We have nothing to say… Er what?" the shouter sounded slightly confused.

"Well, there are four assumptions that you've made which are completely wrong. One, We're not Imperial. Two, we don't want anything from you." He paused, "Why the hell I would want to.

"Three, we rescued you from an Imperial Firing squad after that rather inept and incomplete attempt at a Hijack and four; I'm not scum."

"Yes you are!" Mooka called back mockingly.

Jade just grinned back.

"Ok, "he continued talking very fast, "The last one I take back, apparently I am scum but I want to know that when we unlock this door you lot aren't going to get any stupid ideas."

There was silence.

"Ok, we'll just leave the door locked then and you'll either starve or the Imps will pick you up later." He was beginning to sound exasperated, "Either way, I don't care."

There was subdued muttering from behind the door, then a single female voice replied. "Ok, we agree to no stupid ideas."

Jade was taking no chances; he retreated to the yacht exit and waved at the door. The door obligingly unlocked and ten dishevelled figures jumped out as if to ambush whoever had opened the door. They looked around confused.

"And I thought you said no stupid ideas." said Jade, pointing a blaster at them all.

A woman came to the front of the group. She looked about Jade's age, long black hair with silver strands streaking through it. Grey eyes surveyed both Jade and Mooka and then she made a hand gesture. The rest of them relaxed back from their aggressive posture.

"Ok, so that was a stupid idea."

Jade grunted in agreement.

"Now what?" asked the woman.

"Up to you." said Jade." Have a nice walk to the nearest settlement, take the ship somewhere and sell it. Or ram it into an Imperial Garrison. I don't care."

"You won't hear the last from us." She threatened.

"Hang on. You do know that the navy could have just blown that ship up just to get you and at least a thousand people would have died needlessly." Jade looked irritated to Mooka, bordering on angry. "Or that if they had decided to board, you'd all be facing an interrogation droid right now and trust me when I say, any secrets you might have would be ripped from you in the most painful way possible."

The woman's face fell as realisation of these facts sank in.

"And on top of that, you're getting a fully working hyperspace capable yacht out of this and then you have the gall to threaten me?" Jade was shouting angrily now, which unnerved Mooka. "No wonder your attempt at hijacking was that feeble, if this is your level of intelligence."

"But…"

"Don't Follow." ordered Jade, "You've had one warning and that's all you get from me."

With that, and still covering their opponents with a blaster, got onto the speeder bike. Mooka climbed on and with Jade giving them a look of disgust, they sped off. Mooka hung on for dear life as Jade accelerated the bike away. After ten minutes or so, she felt Jade take a deep breath and slow the bike down to a stop. Jade turned to face her.

"Sorry." He said.

"What for?" She replied.

"For scaring you."

"It was a little scary." She confirmed.

Jade up to this point had always seemed like cool uncle or Big brother up to this point. But when he started to get angry, Mooka could feel some kind of power build up in him, power that scared her.

Jade fixed her with a meaningful stare. "I promise to not scare you again ok?"

Mooka nodded, He was back to normal. He grinned at her and they set off at a more sedate pace.

* * *

Jade regarded Mooka with sympathy. Poor kid, probably the first time she saw his temper. That was one of the reasons he left the Jedi, that and Alison. He sighed and forced any thought of her and everything that came with it from his mind. He always wondered if he would ever be strong enough to open the box in his mind where he'd put everything to do with her in.

There it was again, the subtle suggestion or nudge from the force. This way it prodded, subtlety saying that this was the way to go. He sighed to himself and tried to resist but he knew that it would follow the same pattern. Resistance for a while and then he would eventually cave and follow it anyway.

They rode for a about an hour, with Jade checking over his shoulder to make sure that those idiots weren't following them and then pulled over. Mooka looked tired, she definitely needed a break. So Jade broke out the rations and the two of them sat on the plains, under the sunny blue sky , having an impromptu picnic.

"I did find something in that crystal, you know." Said Mooka suddenly.

Jade realised that she's probably been bursting to tell him since the Galaxy Star. He just smiled at her enthusiasm.

"There was a code switch in the data crystal." She explained, "There was a simple code of T3M4 which gave me full access."

"How did you guess that?" Jade was impressed.

"I didn't guess, I had the computer run through all the possibilities and it only took a few minutes."

"You're lucky it didn't have a self-destruct command." said Jade, "Most crystals will wipe all data if you don't input the correct code after a number of attempts."

"I know. Most modern data crystals do." confirmed Mooka, "but this data crystal is 4000 years old."

"Wha?" Jade was speechless.

"On top of that." continued Mooka, "There's a DNA trigger as well. Only someone with the right DNA can open it. You were trying to access that crystal before me weren't you?"

"Yes." Said Jade, puzzled.

"Well, the only person who can access that data is someone with DNA which matches or is a relative match to the crystals. I'm betting your probably the only one who can read that data now you know the access code."

"Mooka, You'll have to forgive me but how does a street urchin know so much about data crystal security?" Jade was genuinely curious.

"Oh, C'mon. It wasn't just cash I was lifting, or stims I was running." Said Mooka, "There was a couple of cool guys who taught me that stuff."

"What happened to them?"

"The streets killed them." Said Mooka after an awkward pause, "the streets would kill you eventually, you just had to make it last as long as you could."

"I can understand that." said Jade.

They ate in silence for a while. The Jade pulled the crystal out and put it in a reader.

"IF that DNA filter is on the crystal, I bet it's on my sabre staff as well. I am the only person able to use it. Do you want to see what's on this crystal?"

Mooka nodded. There was a small whirring sound and a pocket size image of a woman appeared. She was in her late fifties dressed in Jedi Master Robes. She had an beautiful face which had aged gracefully but you could see the strain of life she must have lead. The hologram was only in black and white, so Jade had no idea what her eyes or hair really looked like.

However, Jade recognised her features; she looked very similar to the very few images he remembered of his mother before he'd arrived at the Jedi Temple.

"Greetings." Her voice was cool and very pronounced. "If you're seeing this then you're a member of my family. My name is Bastilla Shan, a jedi master and archivist in the great library on Courscant."

Mooka watched in awe as Bastilla Shan continued.

"I am the mother of the present chancellor and the wife of Revan. A Jedi Master who's sacrifice has made it possible to have peace reign in the Galaxy for more than 30 years."

Jade let out a low whistle. He remembered the stories of Darth Revan or Lightbringer as he was nicknamed. He was one of the few Jedi to not only return from the dark side but to vanquish it. Records from that time were sketchy at best because three hundred years after Revan, a war had devastated much of the then Jedi Temple and vast amounts of knowledge and history had been lost.

"I'm recording this at the rebuilt enclave on Dantooine before I move to Tython to continue my studies. I want people to remember the man who was Revan, not the legend."

The entry ended. Jade could see there were plenty more entries to review.

"Hey, We're already on Dantooine." said Mooka excitedly, "How about we go looking for this Jedi enclave?"

Jade pondered this. Was this what the force was prodding him to do?

"Well," he tried to sound nonchalant, "It's not as if we have anything better to do."

Mooka grinned at him and they started to pack.


End file.
